meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Alexis Rivas - A New Blueprint for Homebuilding - [Invest Like the Best, EP.326]

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Colossus

Technology, Business, Investing

4.72.5K Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My guest this week is Alexis Rivas. Alexis is the co-founder and CEO of Cover, which is pioneering a new way of building homes. It’s no surprise to anyone that aspects of our housing market is broken. The market is undersupplied and littered with regulatory issues. The homebuilding process has also not changed for the better part of a century. Alexis is attacking the problem and has taken a leaf out of the car industry’s learnings to create a similar production process for home building. In our discussion, we talk about his idea of lego pieces for homes, how they’re refining production with backyard homes first, and how this may change the way people buy and sell homes in future. Please enjoy my conversation with Alexis Rivas. Listen to Founders Podcast Founders Episode 136 - Estee Lauder Founders Episode 288 - Ralph Lauren For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus is the modern research platform for leading investors. Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust. At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks, Tegus customers pay only what an expert charges – with zero markups and no confusing call credits – netting an average 70% savings. Don’t want to conduct a full hour call? Tegus offers the ability to schedule 30-minutes, an offer you won’t find anywhere else. And they don’t stop there. With white-glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures, including a dedicated 50+ analyst team that vets every call transcript, Tegus ensures your privacy and protection. For a limited time, you can trial Tegus for free by visiting tegus.co/patrick. ----- Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.  Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus Show Notes (00:03:39) - (First question) - Supply and demand situation writ large for housing in the United States (00:06:34) - Lack of workforce growth to meet housing development needs (00:10:23) - Insight into “lego piece” style construction (00:11:41) - The comparison to automotive manufacturing (00:16:15) - Strategic description of a good “lego piece” from Cover (00:20:08) - Utility continuity comparison between panels versus tradition construction (00:21:05) - Potential criticism from skeptical contractors (00:22:53) - The marginal cost for a typical home buyer (00:25:59) - The role of software in the business (00:28:47) - Insight into support model and “The Last Mile” theory in construction and possible solutions to combat errors during assembly (00:30:46) - Support system integration for inevitable repairs (00:32:17) - The changing reality of initial ideas as projects are completed (00:34:27) - Building factories and streamlining production logistics (00:37:28) - Focusing on constraints and an example relatable to real life scenarios (00:38:37) - The value of moving slow to perfect processes early on versus an all in head first approach (00:40:09) - The scope of ambition over the next several decades (00:41:18) - The evolution of homes and how they could change based of consumer wants (00:43:37) - Vertical capabilities of cover panels (00:43:21) - Types of panels that could be introduced moving forward (00:45:14) - Timeline for Cover expansion into new states (00:46:06) - Advice for upcoming entrepreneurs when building similar business models (00:47:58) - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for Alexis

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode is brought to you by TIGAS, the modern research platform for leading investors.

0:04.6

Stretch your research budget with flexible expert calls you can trust.

0:08.4

At a fraction of the cost of traditional expert networks,

0:11.2

TIGAS customers pay only what an expert charges with zero markups and no confusing call credits,

0:16.6

netting an average of 70% savings.

0:19.3

Don't want to conduct a full hour call?

0:21.3

TIGAS offers the ability to schedule 30-minute meetings and offer you won't find anywhere else.

0:26.2

And they don't stop there. With white glove custom sourcing for every project and robust compliance measures,

0:31.6

including a dedicated 50-plus-person analyst team that vets every call transcript,

0:36.5

TIGAS ensures your privacy and protection.

0:39.0

As the industry innovator for qualitative insights, TIGAS helps you find the right experts you need

0:43.6

at a quality and speed that can be matched.

0:46.1

For a limited time, as a listener, you can trial TIGAS for free by visiting TIGAS.co slash Patrick.

0:52.4

For a transition to the episode, I want to highlight the Founders podcast,

0:55.7

which is part of our Colossus Network.

0:57.8

David Sanra, who hosts Founders, has devoted his life to learning from history's greatest entrepreneurs,

1:02.8

and every week he distills the lessons of a different founder.

1:05.9

If you want an entry point, I highly recommend starting with episode 136 on Estee Lauder,

1:11.0

or episode 288 on Ralph Lauren.

1:13.9

I host a David on Invest Like the Best Last Summer,

1:16.2

and it's hard not to walk away and insanely energized after listening to any episode with him.

1:20.8

You can find a link to Founders and those episodes in the show notes of this conversation.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Colossus, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Colossus and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.